Sweet:
- Grains including wheat, rice, barley and corn
- Milk and sweet milk products like ghee, butter and cream
- Sweet fruits like figs, grapes, pears, coconuts, dates, mangoes and dried fruits
- Cooked vegetables like potato, carrot, beetroot, cauliflower, sweet potato and beans
- Sugar - raw, refined, brown and white - molasses and sugar cane juice
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| The Infertility Diet |
Sour:
- Sour fruits like oranges, pineapples, lemons, limes, passion fruit, cherries and plums
- Sour milk products such as yogurt, sour cream, cheese and whey
- Fermented stuffs such as wine, vinegar, soy sauce and cabbage
- Carbonated beverages
- Salt - rock salt, sea salt and salt from the ground
- Any food to which salt has been added (pickles, nuts, chips)
- Dark, leafy, green herbs
- Spices
- Garlic
- Pepper
- Legumes
- Raw fruit and vegetables
The Six Tastes offer us a user-friendly guide map for how to nourish ourselves. Rather than looking at nutritional labels for X amount of protein or Y amount of carbohydrates, the Six Tastes naturally guide us towards our body's nutritional needs. Each taste feeds our mind, body, senses and spirit in its own unique way. From a modern nutritional perspective, the Six Tastes satisfy each of the major dietary building blocks. Sweet foods, for example, are rich in fats, proteins, carbohydrates and water, whereas Bitter and Astringent foods are high in vitamins and minerals.
The brain sends the body signals when it requires energy in the form of food. By incorporating all Six Tastes into each meal, we ensure that these signals are adequately met, thus avoiding food cravings or the over-consumption of certain foods.
Including the Six tastes in each meal doesn't need to be a daunting task. Adding a squeeze of lemon to cooked dishes, for example, can quickly satisfy the Sour taste, while adding a side salad will fulfill the Bitter and Astringent tastes.
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| The Infertility Diet |
Allow your unique constitution to determine the proportion of tastes you eat. The body naturally desires tastes that balance its doshic makeup and shuns tastes of an aggravating nature. In this sense, things are made pretty easy for us: If we simply follow our natural inclinations, we are led to the proper foods. Vata individuals, for example, are naturally drawn to moist, grounding foods, while Kapha individuals favour light, drying foods.
Ayurvedic nutrition recommends including all Six Tastes in each meal, while favouring those tastes that bring greater balance to your particular constitution. A Pitta individual, for example, will favor cooling foods and spices such as dark leafy greens and fennel, which are high in Bitter and Astringent tastes, while requiring a smaller quantity of the Pungent taste. To find out more, you can check out The Infertility Diet.
